Friday, 14 December 2012

Walking Away Author Interview

When I released Text Me, Guido in July, Adriane Boyd was the very first blogger to ever review it. She's been incredibly supportive, and I can honestly say that I owe the majority of my sales to her efforts promoting my work. So when I heard she was publishing a book, I was eager to return the favor!

Her new book, Walking Away, is available on Amazon TODAY! And it's only a buck. So go and get it!

And now, here's my interview with Adriane!

Writing Walking Away, what other writers inspired you?If I say you does that make me lame or creepy?No, that makes you awesome.WOO! Well of course you, and there's Tammy Blackwell (who's book Destiny Binds was my very first indie), Shelly Crane, Tiffany King, Abbi Glines, Nichole Chase... The list is absolutely endless. But if we were talking music, well that would also be an endless list but altogether different.Before I started writing stories I wrote songs...Music has always been my biggest source of inspiration. I mean with bands like Pearl Jam (who's song Just Breathe inspired some of Walking Away) and Ambassadors who's song Litost got me through the rewrites of Walking Away, it's hard not to let your imagination just take you away on the wings of their music. It's really one of the most raw forms of imagery there is. You can't see the sounds, the emotions, the depth in the lyrics, but you can feel it, and it's amazing.

Writing songs was actually really very natural for me. From the time I was 3, I can remember singing along in Sunday school and in the car with my parents. I was in the children's and youth choirs in church rowing up and in high school I sang in the chorus. My best friend in college was in a band and he and I would collaborate lyrics together a lot, so it was essentially second nature.

Interesting. You have a lot of well-known indie author friends. How did you come to befriend so many?

That's really easy. I read their books, fell in love with their characters and the stories. Then, it was the simple task of sending out friend requests to each of them on Facebook and praying they accepted them. I met most of them face to face at a book festival in Decatur, Georgia a few months ago and it's just grown from there.As a self-published author, how do you plan to promote this release (besides doing this interview on my blog)?Um, a lot of word of mouth and self promotion. What I mean is, I am going to plaster it on my own blog, on other blogs, on Facebook and Twitter, just everywhere.Surely you must have more interviews lined up with much more important people than myself?No. Not really. Okay, I have a couple other interviews, but not with people I know. They were referred to me by other people.Will you be using KDP Select, and if so, why?I will not be using KDP Select. It has been brought to my attention that if you publish using KDP Select, then you have to wait three months or some outrageous amount of time before you can publish with PubIt, Barnes & Noble's self publishing platform. I know several of my potential readers have Nooks, so I would like for them to be able to enjoy Walking Away as well.Does this release share similar themes to your upcoming novel You Just Know?No. You Just Know is a Young Adult contemporary. It's about losing something/someone important to you and learning to trust at a young age. Walking Away is about learning the difference between holding on and letting go.

YJK is also told from two different points of view, and Walking Away is only told from Cora's side.

What was your rationale for publishing this short story before the release of You Just Know?

Truthfully? I'm struggling with You Just Know. I'm having a really hard time making it meld together with what was already written, and I knew if I kept going at the rate that I was with it, then it would be complete trash. So in a way, Walking Away was something that I had to do. Plus, I feel like if the Mayans were right, then I've crossed off my #1 bucket list item.

So when can we expect You Just Know?

As of right now late spring or early summer. That is, of course, if the Mayans were not correct. I'm leaning on the idea that the Mayan in charge of writing the calendar developed a cramp, and decided that December 21, 2012 was the best he could do.

What is your advice for anyone looking to self-publish?

DO NOT be afraid to ask questions. It's the only way you're going to be able to understand any of it. Don't go into this venture thinking you know everything based on a little bit of research. Though they may like to think it, Wiki doesn't know everything, and Google really is just a search engine. If you're serious about self publishing, then you have to ask questions. All kinds of questions.

Who to ask?

Other self published authors. I have an entire list of them that I can give you. Rhonda Dennis, Tiffany King, Andrea Randall, Charles Sheehan-Miles... Those are the ones who helped me the most.

Thanks so much for your time Adriane!

Now go pick up her book, and stay tuned for the release of her novel You Just Know in the future!